A series of “finishing processes” may be executed to logically define boundaries of data blocks of a storage medium and to associate the data blocks with corresponding logical addresses. Executing such finishing processes on an individual storage medium can take several hours. Therefore, manufacturing costs could be reduced by “finishing” a storage medium while the storage medium is in possession of an end user (i.e., “in the field”), rather than at a factory. However, a storage medium cannot operate to a full, advertised capacity until such finishing processes are fully executed. Therefore, finishing a storage medium in the field inconveniences the end user by denying the end user access to unfinished locations on the storage medium while the finishing processes execute.